Matthew Dingman was working as an iron worker for CASECO, LLC in 2001 when he got severely injured at a construction site in Huntsville, suffering from a fractured ankle. After several years of treatments, surgeries, and chronic pain, he was diagnosed with depression. He sought compensation from his employer, claiming he's permanently and totally disabled due to the 2001 accident.
CASECO filed an appeal, arguing that Dingman's condition could have been aggravated by his subsequent employments. Also, the company argued that Dingman's injury should be compensated within the scheduled member injury (specific to the ankle) not as a nonscheduled injury to the body as a whole.
However, the court affirmed the trial court's decision that Dingman's injury indeed resulted in depression, which serves as an unscheduled injury and his current condition resulted solely from his 2001 accident at CASECO. Therefore, Dingman was awarded benefits for permanent and total disability.
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